Getting my Groupon!

So one of the unique things about Kathleen, Allison & I that we all share is that we all work in higher education. I specifically work in housing, and so the end of summer for me is not in fall, but the beginning of the month of August. This year, I decided I was going to enjoy it and had a full packed weekend!

That Sunday, I planned to hang out with my friend whom we will call International J. I don't know how many of you have heard of Groupon, but I love it! Groupon is a daily coupon for different cities. You have to have a certain amount of people agree to purchase the coupon and then the deal is on! So Group + Coupon = Groupon. A match made in heaven! So previous to this day, I had seen a groupon go through about painting your own pottery. I had done it before in a previous life, and knew how much I enjoyed it, so I definitely wanted to do this and so I called International J's office and convinced her into grouponing with me. Then a few weeks later, I saw another groupon for a riverboat tour departing from the same city as the pottery place, so we bought that groupon too. Needless to say, it was going to be a fun packed day that I dubbed Super Groupon Sunday!

So after having brunch, we headed over to the pottery place. I had prepped ahead and brought this picture with me that I took at Greenfield Village on one of my many visits:

My goal: To make this picture a piece of pottery.

In all fairness, it wasn't my first time that I attempted to paint a piece of pottery with a landscape. I am the proud owner of five coasters that have been painted with a scene from Dubin, Frankfurt, Venice, Paris, and London. This however, would be my largest piece as my groupon allowed for me to select an item up to $35.00 in value. So I bought a square vase and got to work. Now the poor people at the pottery place were rather intrigued but probably also a little annoyed. As I'm sure they are used to most people grabbing a few things of paint and sitting down with very minimal clean-up. Then I showed up, and promptly grabbed 20 bottles and kept on going back for more. I was nice and put away all of my own paint at the end though.

Here is a picture of me and my vase before it was fired.

International J did a very cool pitcher that day as well. And finally, here is the vase after it was fired.

                                                                                

                                                             

                                                

The best part of this? I texted my mom a picture when I picked it up a few weeks later, and she showed my father. He said I was a real Mozart!

Anyway, back to the day...then we finished up the day with our river boat tour where I saw a good portion of Canada. Fun fact: I have never been in Canada. I have lived across from it for 4 1/2 years, and have travelled to Ireland, the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Monaco, and Switzerland, but have never been to the closest international region that is a hop, skip, and a passport away.

Here's Canada:

Alright, you got me. It is not the whole country, but just one picture from there. My camera is on the fritz, so not many pictures are being taken at the moment.... and here we are smiling at Super Groupon Sunday!

Have you gotten your groupon? What have you purchased?